1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ice tray for producing pieces of ice and more particularly to an improved freezer tray providing a number of mould cavities for producing ice pieces individually.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Refrigerator ice cube trays often take the form of a substantially rectangular tray which is compartmentalized into a number of cavities in a variety of structures.
In one embodiment a mechanically displaceable partitioning structure is used so that subes can be mechanically cammed out of their cavities after the water has been frozen.
In another embodiment the ice cube tray takes the form of individual cells or cavities and in still other embodiments the ice cube tray includes the combination of a plurality of individual cells formed of a plastic material arranged in longitudinal rows and transversely aligned and united at their upper margins into an integral unit.
The following United States patents illustrate the variety of structures and shapes that have been developed:
U.S. Pat. No. 1,889,481 issued Nov. 29, 1932
U.S. Pat. No. 2,269,642 issued Jan. 13, 1942
U.S. Pat. No. 2,481,525 issued Sept. 13, 1949
U.S. Pat. No. 2,537,915 issued Jan. 9, 1951
U.S. Pat. No. 2,591,261 issued Apr. 1, 1952
U.S. Pat. No. 2,796,742 issued June 25, 1957
U.S. Pat. No. 2,810,338 issued Oct. 22, 1957
U.S. Pat. No. 3,021,695 issued Feb. 20, 1962
U.S. Pat. No. 3,120,112 issued Feb. 4, 1964
U.S. Pat. No. 3,122,898 issued Mar. 3, 1964
U.S. Pat. No. 3,214,128 issued Oct. 26, 1965
U.S. Pat. No. 3,317,177 issued May 2, 1967
It is an object of the invention to provide in an ice tray for forming a number of ice pieces or ice cubes as they are commonly called, the combination of a plurality of individual cavities formed from a resilient plastic material with each cavity open at the top and having resilient walls of relatively thin generally uniform thickness throughout their extent, said cavities being arranged in longitudinally and transversely aligned rows in spaced apart relation and being united at their upper margins or perimeters defining their open tops into an integral unit, each cavity having an internal configuration such that each has an axis of revolution lying substantially in the plane of its open top and defined by a central bottom wall of part-circular or part-cylindrical configuration flanked by spaced opposed generally part-conical side walls of opposite symmetry to thereby present a generally hexagonal perimetral configuration defining the top opening thereof, said cavity having a plane of symmetry extending substantially perpendicularly to the plane of the open top that includes the axis of revolution and the apices of the part-conical side walls and in which the dimension of each cavity measured in the plane of the top opening and in the direction of the axis of revolution is at a maximum in the region of the axis of revolution whereby moulded pieces of ice having a configuration imparted by each cavity can be easily displaced out of the top opening to the one side of the axis of revolution under the application of force to such moulded pieces of ice at the other side of the axis of revolution.
In conventional trays, once the water or other liquid freezes into ice, it is usually quite difficult to remove the ice cubes on a one-at-a-time individual basis. Generally, it is necessary to place the entire tray under flowing water to loosen all of the cubes from the pockets simultaneously so that all of the cubes are normally removed at the same time. Various complex mechanisms have been provided for loosening ice cubes, but these are often difficult to operate, particularly where the water, before freezing, overflows upon the surface of the sheet or flows around the various dividers or partitioning mechanisms used for the removal of the ice so as to interconnect all of the cubes.
Furthermore, many of these mechanisms are relatively expensive, difficult to use, and often malfunction so that portions of the cubes break off while other portions remain frozen to the partitioning mechanisms. Thus, the present invention relates to an improved form of a so-called ice cube tray which comprises a relatively inexpensive, simplified, one-piece construction wherein individual pieces of ice may be removed on a one-by-one basis with little or no trouble or, in the alternative, a simple twisting motion will loosen all of the individual pieces for simultaneous removal.